Keegan on breaking into the top four, and fifth as a target next year

[Guest alex]

I've read it and I thought it was just (yet more) shit-stirring bollocks.

[NG32]

The headline says it all really

 

 

 

 

[Willow]

fucking hate the daily mail - lol @ "AT WAR"

 

jesus christ 

[STM]

I don't know what annoys me more, the press making up stories or the idiots who believe it.

[Skeletor]

I do find what Keegan said about Ashley never talking to him quite worrying though tbh.

[Guest MagicNumber9]

I don't know what annoys me more, the press making up stories or the idiots who believe it.

 

But if its in the paper though it can't be lies surely??

[dustynrg]

I do find what Keegan said about Ashley never talking to him quite worrying though tbh.

 

Well stop worrying then, only last week he was saying Ashley was the perfect owner because he never gave interviews and kept his nose out of Keegan's side of things.

 

Now the papers turn that into "Wha, wha -  ASHLEY NEVER SPEAKS TO ME!!!!!!!!

 

For fuck's sake.

[fredbob]

I do find what Keegan said about Ashley never talking to him quite worrying though tbh.

 

Well stop worrying then, only last week he was saying Ashley was the perfect owner because he never gave interviews and kept his nose out of Keegan's side of things.

 

Now the papers turn that into "Wha, wha -  ASHLEY NEVER SPEAKS TO ME!!!!!!!!

 

For f***'s sake.

 

Precisely, aside from maybe discussing transfer budget, which im sure Mort is aware of anyway, what would Keegan and Ashley want to discuss?I cant see why the owner and manager would ever want to speak football club wise, i'd be a lot more worried if the chairmen and manager werent speaking.

[Skeletor]

I do find what Keegan said about Ashley never talking to him quite worrying though tbh.

 

Well stop worrying then

 

No, I'll do what I like thanks.

[SUPERTOON]

Don't know if anyone posted this link yet:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=564438&in_page_id=1779

 

But this article is particularly troubling and seems to point to a serious disconnect btween Keegan and pretty much every else in the club's back room.

 

I'm feeling a little troubled right now and can't help but feel that this will not end well.  I hope it's just a bit of indigestion rather than a premonition.

 

If this were true Keegan wouldnt be there now

[Doug]

Half of the people on here have got it weighed up and dismiss the shit stirring, the other half are biting like sharks and believing it.

 

[Shearergol]

Half of the people on here have got it weighed up and dismiss the shit stirring, the other half are biting like sharks and believing it.

 

 

Or maybe, just maybe, this is true for once?

[Dave]

Half of the people on here have got it weighed up and dismiss the shit stirring, the other half are biting like sharks and believing it.

 

 

Most people can see the shit-stirring parts for what they are, but some can also see some rather worrying and conflicting quotes.

[Consortium of one]

Half of the people on here have got it weighed up and dismiss the s*** stirring, the other half are biting like sharks and believing it.

 

 

I don't see a lot of people biting like sharks today.  The people who are expressing concern today are not the same people who freaked over what KK said after the Chelsea game.  A fair amount of people (myself included) are simply saying that something isn't adding up quite right. 

[Cronky]

Personally, I think it was Keegan more than anyone who was nurturing dreams of challenging the top four, and who came down to earth with a bump on Monday. All this stuff about dampening down other people's expectations is crap.

 

It's also him who finds the Premier League 'boring', because he's a bit of an all or nothing person. He tends to lose interest if barriers are in his way.

 

He needs to make up his mind whether he fancies the task ahead. Splashing the cash for a quick surge to the top isn't the option that it was when he was first here. If he doesn't fancy it, there's plenty of others willing to take it on.

 

And 'shit-stirring' is nothing to do with it. We saw and heard him on the TV for ourselves, and could see the mood that he was in.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

I do find what Keegan said about Ashley never talking to him quite worrying though tbh.

 

Well stop worrying then, only last week he was saying Ashley was the perfect owner because he never gave interviews and kept his nose out of Keegan's side of things.

 

Now the papers turn that into "Wha, wha -  ASHLEY NEVER SPEAKS TO ME!!!!!!!!

 

For f***'s sake.

 

Precisely, aside from maybe discussing transfer budget, which im sure Mort is aware of anyway, what would Keegan and Ashley want to discuss?I cant see why the owner and manager would ever want to speak football club wise, i'd be a lot more worried if the chairmen and manager werent speaking.

 

Ashley has a multimillion sports leisurewear empire to run on a day to day basis. He bought The Toon to have some fun, not get involved in the day to day running of the club, hence the rather top heavy 'Executive Team' that we have.

 

All he wants to do is have a bit of fun, enjoy his Saturdays and eventually win a few tin pots.

 

Thats why Keegan doesn't speak to him.

 

And as for Transfer budgets etc, in any business of a certain size the owner will not discuss budgets or targets with employees, thata what us accountants and human resource teams are for

[Dave]

http://www.nufc.com/2007-08html/2008-05-05chelsea-h.html

So to the final whistle and those post-match words of wisdom, dissected as if they were a major work of theology rather than end-of-season soundbites. Well, if you can't beat them, join them....here we go:

 

Keegan is half-right in saying that we're a million miles away from the top four, after a season when we've taken precisely one point and three goals from our eight matches against them. But he seems to be talking about the current form of that quartet and their performance across the whole season.

 

While he was handing out Soccer Circus leaflets at Braehead the opening months of 2007, we faced said big four at SJP - and avoided defeat against them all, taking six points from a possible twelve. That didn't make us title contenders (or keep Roeder in a job) but it proved that we weren't quite whipping boys.

 

As ever, the problems we have are mostly of our own making and become evident against teams who have even less chance of breaking into a Champions League spot than ourselves.

 

Beating Chelsea or Man U is only worth the same as beating Boro or Pompey - and it can be argued that avoiding losing against the latter trio is more valuable in a "don't give your rivals the points" fashion.

 

A lack of preparation, inappropriate tactics and a bad attitude among certain players have been our downfall more often than a lack of talent.

 

If KK believes that the way to our hearts is with more mega money "trophy" signings from God knows where, then he's guilty of falling into the same crowd-pleasing trap as our former Chairman. Buying the 2008 version of Albert Luque for twice the price is unacceptable, even if the deal "makes sense".

 

The problem we seem to have is that football has moved on (not progressed) in the three years since KK relinquished his position at Man City and that he cannot work in the same unimpeded way that characterised his previous reign here - and led to his departure when PLC hired hands sought to meddle.

 

Keegan famously convinced Robert Lee to move to Tyneside - nowadays the two wouldn't even have spoken to each other before the deal was brokered. You lose something there surely, in terms of the manager weighing up his potential signing, even if the schmoozing ability of KK is now life-expired.

 

The reaction of Obafemi Martins to KK's appointment at SJP is a classic example: the player having to resort to Google and YouTube to find out who his new gaffer was. The emerging generation of players don't know who Keegan is - and the older ones who do don't fit into our profile of worthwhile signings.

 

Is Keegan flexing his muscles because the Modric deal went the same way as Woodgate - and the faces brought into the club to do the all this new-fangled fixing failed? Only time will tell on that one.

 

So what do we end up with? A home defeat against the most potent away day side in the country, followed closely by some slightly unexpected comments that the manager quickly sought to clarify.

 

Too late though, as his words were seized upon by hacks impatient at not being able to write "trouble in Toon" headlines by our recent unbeaten streak. Showdown, D-Day, crisis talks... you get the picture.

 

What if we'd won this game? One can almost hear the soundbites that would have rolled off KK's tongue in his post-match reverie. Stirring rhetoric about this being a unique, special place that would be lapped up by those watching on TV in city pubs - and promptly dismissed in the time it takes to buy more beer.

 

But would they have any more gravitas and significance than Keegan's actual comments? No, because they're both transient and liable to alter like the weather. Remember his departure the last time and the variety of reasons he gave for leaving, ranging from the "feeling sorry for Gerry Francis as we beat Spurs 7-1" to the later "revellations" (sic) about the PLC.

 

Stick around, there'll be another batch of quotes on the way soon. Thursday in fact, when KK next speaks to the media.

 

Post-Allardyce, we need to be in a position where we're challenging Villa, Man City, Everton and whoever else drags themselves out of the lower reaches of the league. There's a confidence Keegan can do that.

 

We already know we're eminently capable of clobbering the beautiful people of White Hart Lane - who now seem to who have moved on in two decades from poaching our own talent to copying our wish list.

 

Woodgate and Modric choosing them over us may have annoyed KK, but we cannot get overly-excited about missing out on either.

 

They both join a club routinely lauded as gatecrashers at the Premier League party by themselves and their friends in the press, but who rather annoyingly keep screwing things up.   

 

So they've signed a promising young midfielder with the world at his feet - Jermaine Jenas anyone?

 

It's for that reason and the masses of other profoundly average players clogging the league that the opportunity to be competitive in this league remains open to us. If KK didn't think he could put out a side superior to those Sven, Moyes or O'Neill can construct then he'd never have unpacked his bags again.

 

Ever since Ian Woan scored at the City Ground twelve years ago, I've not believed we could win the league - and seen nothing on the field in the intervening period to alter that mindset.

 

But there have been great days and near misses along the way - coupled with some memorable football from some magnificent players.

 

Much of that was orchestrated and inspired by our current boss - who has a damn sight more going for him in the recruitment department than his charmless predecessors (would you sign for Souness, Roeder or Allardyce if anyone else wanted you and you didn't know all the words to The Blaydon Races?)

 

There's hope and there's expectation.

 

We hope to improve, we hope to be challenging for something slightly more credible than the Intertoto Cup. We expect to get competence, entertainment and commitment for our hard-earned. 

 

Nothing there is unrealistic, nothing there leaves us open to charges of mass self-delusion. That applies equally to Keegan's comments. What a pity that it differs from other people's world view of him. And us. 

 

The one imponderable in all this is what the owner thinks of Keegan's comments. From where we stand though, the supportive quotes from the Chairman would seem to render talk of bust-ups invalid.

 

Sensible stuff.

[NG32]

Spot on