Could Keegan's Outburst .....

[NE5]

Have everything to with the fact that Owens contract negotiations are not going as well as he expected or hoped.

 

Apparently negotiations opened 6 weeks ago and maybe Keegan is trying to bring Ashley closer to Owens demands.

 

What I herd/read was nowt had happened since Keegan mentioned it 6 weeks ago. But in that time we have brought in some fella from Newcastle racecourse who doesn't have job role is just going to dive into all sorts of business stuff & we have appointed a chap with funny glasses who used to be involved in the casino game as deputy chairman but sort out captains contract well that is on the back burner.

 

mackems.gif

 

brilliant

 

 

[NE5]

wonder how many more players we may have to lose before the penny drops

 

 

 

Carr and Ramage aren't good enough iyam.

 

who mentioned Carr and Ramage ?

 

 

 

You meant Troisi? Fucking hell  mackems.gif

 

errrr..........not quite. I mean't Woodgate, Modric, Owen, Zoggy and who knows to come ....

 

then the penny may drop

 

So long as the books are balanced and the club isn't in debt to the tune of 350m quid like Arsenal, double that of manure, and similar to Liverpool if their stadium plans go ahead.......

 

Shame on the shite boards they all have for accumulating so much debt eh  mackems.gif

[Mowen]

Why do you think we didn't get Woodgate and Modric?

[madras]

wonder how many more players we may have to lose before the penny drops

 

 

 

Carr and Ramage aren't good enough iyam.

 

who mentioned Carr and Ramage ?

 

 

 

You meant Troisi? f****** hell  mackems.gif

 

errrr..........not quite. I mean't Woodgate, Modric, Owen, Zoggy and who knows to come ....

 

then the penny may drop

 

So long as the books are balanced and the club isn't in debt to the tune of 350m quid like Arsenal, double that of manure, and similar to Liverpool if their stadium plans go ahead.......

 

Shame on the s**** boards they all have for accumulating so much debt eh  mackems.gif

they can afford their debt due to their earnings.

 

 

oh fuck here we go again.

[NE5]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

 

[Guest toonlass]

Radio five live are stirring the shite, saying that Keegan is unsettled due to problems with Ashley and Dennis Wise, who "he believes is being groomed to take over from him". What a load of bollocks. Media frenzy at the toon again.

[Cajun]

Yep Zoggy was always happy go lucky, there was never any doubt about Owen seeing out his career here and we never missed out on players under the old board (definitely not that Woodgate fellow you mentioned).

[NE5]

wonder how many more players we may have to lose before the penny drops

 

 

 

Carr and Ramage aren't good enough iyam.

 

who mentioned Carr and Ramage ?

 

 

 

You meant Troisi? f****** hell  mackems.gif

 

errrr..........not quite. I mean't Woodgate, Modric, Owen, Zoggy and who knows to come ....

 

then the penny may drop

 

So long as the books are balanced and the club isn't in debt to the tune of 350m quid like Arsenal, double that of manure, and similar to Liverpool if their stadium plans go ahead.......

 

Shame on the s**** boards they all have for accumulating so much debt eh  mackems.gif

they can afford their debt due to their earnings.

 

 

oh fuck here we go again.

 

complete rubbish.

 

If you aren't prepared to demand the club match Liverpool, go back to the McKeag days that you obviously thought was the right way to go about things.

 

 

[madras]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

 

absolute tosh.

 

 

the liverpool way was to keep everything indoors.

[NE5]

Yep Zoggy was always happy go lucky, there was never any doubt about Owen seeing out his career here and we never missed out on players under the old board (definitely not that Woodgate fellow you mentioned).

 

Woodgate signed for the old board but not the new one.

 

Odd that like.............

 

He also signed because the club showed this "planning" that everybody like you accuse them of not having, in actual fact, 6 months before the summer deadline, by getting in first before our main rivals.

 

In fact Owen also signed for the old board, but not the new one, to date.

 

 

[NE5]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

absolute tosh.

 

 

the liverpool way was to keep everything indoors.

 

whats that got to do with signing players and extending their contracts and making them feeling wanted ?

 

Simple fact is.........and any long term Newcastle supporter knows this.........first time round, Keegan made it a policy to extend all the players contracts long before their current ones ended when he thought they were worth it, and was completely backed by his board. But don't let any silly agenda or desire to paint a negative point where it didn't happen get in the way of your opinion.

 

 

[madras]

wonder how many more players we may have to lose before the penny drops

 

 

 

Carr and Ramage aren't good enough iyam.

 

who mentioned Carr and Ramage ?

 

 

 

You meant Troisi? f****** hell  mackems.gif

 

errrr..........not quite. I mean't Woodgate, Modric, Owen, Zoggy and who knows to come ....

 

then the penny may drop

 

So long as the books are balanced and the club isn't in debt to the tune of 350m quid like Arsenal, double that of manure, and similar to Liverpool if their stadium plans go ahead.......

 

Shame on the s**** boards they all have for accumulating so much debt eh  mackems.gif

they can afford their debt due to their earnings.

 

 

oh f*** here we go again.

 

complete rubbish.

 

If you aren't prepared to demand the club match Liverpool, go back to the McKeag days that you obviously thought was the right way to go about things.

 

 

liverpool have a higher turnover than us which means more financial clout due to being in the champs league for a few years. where we were remember. when they strengthened we got souness.

[KaKa]

NEWCASTLE chairman Chris Mort insists the Toon will not risk becoming “another Leeds” to break into the top four.

 

Mort was reacting to manager Kevin Keegan’s stunning outburst after Monday’s 2-0 defeat at home to Chelsea.

 

Keegan said Newcastle had no chance of finishing any higher than fifth during the three years he has remaining on his contract.

 

The Toon boss also confessed he had no idea how much was available to spend in the summer but, whatever it was, would not be enough to break the dominance of the Premier League’s big four — Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

 

It was interpreted by some as Keegan challenging the board to bust the bank or pay him off and find someone else to do the job.

 

And for Toon fans it was crushingly disappointing to hear such realism from The Messiah — a man they still believe can deliver the Premier League title.

 

Twelve years ago Newcastle almost did it with King Kev at the helm.

 

When he returned to the club in January there was talk of completing unfinished business. Not any more.

 

Nobody on the St James’ Park board knew Keegan was going to lay it on the line — especially with season tickets to sell.

 

But Mort was adamant Newcastle would not plunge themselves into crippling debt.

 

And he admitted the club’s expectations were no higher than Keegan’s

 

He said: “We don’t want to do a Leeds. It doesn’t make sense.

 

“This club had £100million-worth of debt which has now been cleared and it would be foolish to stretch it beyond its limits.

 

“I thought Kevin’s comments were quite sensible.

 

“I’m not sure what people’s expectations are but I don’t think most Newcastle fans would be greatly surprised by what he had to say.

 

“There are those who are naturally optimistic but it does no harm to come out with some realism and say that if we get fifth we will have done well. He’s right.

 

“I wasn’t taken aback by Kevin’s comments. He says what he feels. We have just come out of a relegation battle so you can’t have people surprised when the manager says we aren’t going to get into the Champions League.

 

“This is a long-term building project and we are very happy with Kevin.

 

“He’s a very enthusiastic character who has got the team playing good football.

 

“We were disappointed to lose to Chelsea but he’s got the team playing well.”

 

Newcastle recently lost out on Croatian midfield star Luca Modric.

 

The Dinamo Zagreb player went to Tottenham for £16m where he joined Jonathan Woodgate, another target the Toon failed to nail.

 

But Mort claims Newcastle WILL be making quality new signings.

 

The scouting team, led by Dennis Wise, have been combing South America recently — although Keegan argued he was not keen on signing players from there.

 

That has led to increased concerns not everyone is singing from the same song sheet.

 

Advertisement

 

Yet Mort reiterated Keegan will have the last word on who comes and goes.

 

The chairman said: “We have started talking about who we will be bringing in and Kevin will have the final say. He has to have that.

 

“We are very happy with where we are but Kevin is quite right to say we shouldn’t expect Champions League football.

 

“It’s going to be tough for anyone to break into the top four.

 

“Someone might sneak in there occasionally and there are a number of sides who will have a go but it is incredibly difficult.”

 

Keegan’s views are echoed by Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp, who reckons it would cost £150m to gatecrash the top-four party.

 

Pompey lie eighth after splashing out £40m this season — 16 points adrift of fourth-placed Liverpool.

 

Redknapp insisted: “You would need £150m to spend to have any chance of breaking into that top four.

 

“Look at Liverpool. Last summer they spent £28m on Fernando Torres and he is a fantastic player but who else can compete with that?

 

“I agree with Kevin. I do not see any way anyone else can break into the top four.

 

“If someone put £200m into Derby this season then they could have been a successful side — and that’s the sort of money that will happen in the Premier League.”

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1132376.ece

[Greg]

Yep Zoggy was always happy go lucky, there was never any doubt about Owen seeing out his career here and we never missed out on players under the old board (definitely not that Woodgate fellow you mentioned).

 

Woodgate signed for the old board but not the new one.

 

Odd that like.............

 

He also signed because the club showed this "planning" that everybody like you accuse them of not having, in actual fact, 6 months before the summer deadline, by getting in first before our main rivals.

 

In fact Owen also signed for the old board, but not the new one, to date.

 

 

 

Woodgate also turned down the old board.

[Cajun]

Woodgate turned down the old board for Middlesborough.

 

I am absolutely certain i am not the only member of this forum or even in the minority who thought Owen would ever sign a new contract here. Yes he signed for the old board but he didn't really have much choice if we are being completely honest.

[madras]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

absolute tosh.

 

 

the liverpool way was to keep everything indoors.

 

whats that got to do with signing players and extending their contracts and making them feeling wanted ?

 

Simple fact is.........and any long term Newcastle supporter knows this.........first time round, Keegan made it a policy to extend all the players contracts long before their current ones ended when he thought they were worth it, and was completely backed by his board. But don't let any silly agenda or desire to paint a negative point where it didn't happen get in the way of your opinion.

 

 

first time round bosman wasn't in force so players were happy to get the security rather than run their contracts down and scoot off for the wages.

[Wullie]

Redknapp insisted: “You would need £150m to spend to have any chance of breaking into that top four.

 

“Look at Liverpool. Last summer they spent £28m on Fernando Torres and he is a fantastic player but who else can compete with that?

 

“I agree with Kevin. I do not see any way anyone else can break into the top four.

 

“If someone put £200m into Derby this season then they could have been a successful side — and that’s the sort of money that will happen in the Premier League.”

 

OMG Redknapp must be at crisis point with the Pompey board.

 

I liked the "And for Toon fans it was crushingly disappointing to hear such realism from The Messiah — a man they still believe can deliver the Premier League title" too.

 

I also think he can pick the winning lottery numbers.

[NE5]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

absolute tosh.

 

 

the liverpool way was to keep everything indoors.

 

whats that got to do with signing players and extending their contracts and making them feeling wanted ?

 

Simple fact is.........and any long term Newcastle supporter knows this.........first time round, Keegan made it a policy to extend all the players contracts long before their current ones ended when he thought they were worth it, and was completely backed by his board. But don't let any silly agenda or desire to paint a negative point where it didn't happen get in the way of your opinion.

 

 

first time round bosman wasn't in force so players were happy to get the security rather than run their contracts down and scoot off for the wages.

 

completely irrelevant where players are made to feel wanted and be part of a progressive club............ and paid the money of course

 

 

 

 

[madras]

Redknapp insisted: “You would need £150m to spend to have any chance of breaking into that top four.

 

“Look at Liverpool. Last summer they spent £28m on Fernando Torres and he is a fantastic player but who else can compete with that?

 

“I agree with Kevin. I do not see any way anyone else can break into the top four.

 

“If someone put £200m into Derby this season then they could have been a successful side — and that’s the sort of money that will happen in the Premier League.”

 

OMG Redknapp must be at crisis point with the Pompey board.

 

I liked the "And for Toon fans it was crushingly disappointing to hear such realism from The Messiah — a man they still believe can deliver the Premier League title" too.

 

I also think he can pick the winning lottery numbers.

he'll have to do it every week.

[Cajun]

I have to admit as soon as Keegan came back I was certain we would be winning the league next season, its is bitterly dissapointing to hear that this may not be the case

[Wullie]

I have to admit as soon as Keegan came back I was certain we would be winning the league next season

 

Can't stand this sort of pessimism. If you weren't certain of winning the league this season, we don't want you following NUFC and dragging the mood down.

[NE5]

Woodgate turned down the old board for Middlesborough.

 

I am absolutely certain i am not the only member of this forum or even in the minority who thought Owen would ever sign a new contract here. Yes he signed for the old board but he didn't really have much choice if we are being completely honest.

 

he wanted the opportunity to play for his hometown team

 

Owen had every choice, what are you talking about, what a load of bollocks. How many players have NUFC signed from Real Madrid ffs  mackems.gif

 

When we had a shite board, we lost our best players to bloody middlesboro..........

[madras]

What is the problem?

 

Owen has a contract over the next season and we are still playing games. It is better and everyone else can focus on that, and in the summer (he does´t even play in the summer) take the contract talk.

 

Think KK is a little annoying about all his talk in the media about Owen and the transfer money.

 

the thing that escapes you here laddie is that KK knows how to treat and manage footballers, and manage a good club, as he did the last time with the support from his board in respect of they backed him when he wanted to sign players and extend their contracts.

 

This was the Liverpool way of doing things when Keegan was a player in fact, but don't let any blind support of the current board putting prudency before anything get in the way of common sense and putting correct value in your best players.

 

Only the 2nd rate clubs behave like that. Oh dear, what have I just described.

 

absolute tosh.

 

 

the liverpool way was to keep everything indoors.

 

whats that got to do with signing players and extending their contracts and making them feeling wanted ?

 

Simple fact is.........and any long term Newcastle supporter knows this.........first time round, Keegan made it a policy to extend all the players contracts long before their current ones ended when he thought they were worth it, and was completely backed by his board. But don't let any silly agenda or desire to paint a negative point where it didn't happen get in the way of your opinion.

 

 

first time round bosman wasn't in force so players were happy to get the security rather than run their contracts down and scoot off for the wages.

 

completely irrelevant where players are made to feel wanted and be part of a progressive club............ and paid the money of course

 

 

 

 

money they can afford

[KaKa]

Everyones having a say now like ... your favourite Martin Samuel's take.

 

Kevin Keegan confronts grim reality at Newcastle UnitedMartin Samuel

Newcastle United's offer for Luka Modric, the Croatia midfield player, was €22 million. By the rate of exchange at the time, the bid worked out in the region of £18.5 million. The player went to Tottenham Hotspur, who informed the Stock Exchange that Modric cost £16.5 million, which was to be paid in four instalments. Newcastle were asked to pay their transfer fee in two.

 

In addition, Newcastle believe that Modric joined Tottenham for roughly half the wage he requested to relocate to Tyneside. Club executives fear that this will be the theme of the summer. Modric did not want to go to Newcastle for various reasons, so he asked for exorbitant personal terms. No doubt had Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner, been willing to meet them, Modric would have rejected Tottenham, but his motives would have been questionable.

 

This is the harsh reality for Newcastle, only half alluded to by Kevin Keegan, the manager, after defeat by Chelsea on Monday. Keegan gave a reasonably frank assessment of the frustrations he faces, but the full picture is more unnerving. Much of what he said was merely an echo of the commentaries when he took the job in January, opinions that were dismissed on Tyneside as the sniping of cynics.

 

As Keegan now concurs, it is a different league from the one he came so close to winning in 1996 and breaking into the elite quartet of clubs is a nigh impossible task, short term. The collapse of the Modric transfer, in which Newcastle offered more money and better wages, flags up just about every obstacle that the club will face.

 

On a professional level Tottenham could offer European football next season, albeit in the Uefa Cup, and point to a trophy won as recently as February, the Carling Cup. Newcastle will not compete in Europe and do not possess a trophy cabinet so much as a collection of antiques, the most recent being the Fairs Cup in 1969, won 16 years before Modric was born. Then there is convenience. London has 11 weekly direct flights to Zagreb, daily from Heathrow, with four more from Luton. Flight time is little more than two hours. There are two options from Newcastle, neither direct, one involving a 3½-hour stop in Paris, the other via Heathrow with an additional two hours of hanging about. The best journey time to Zagreb from Newcastle involves two planes and 5½ hours from take-off to landing, the worst takes two planes and almost seven hours. This stuff is significant.

 

There is a reason why more northern regional accents can be heard in the north, east and west suburbs of London than the south. A person from Leeds who goes to work in the capital wants to make a weekend return a straightforward task, so will often choose to live with easy access to the exit routes. They will not want to be based in Kent and negotiate two hours on the M25 before hitting the M1. Modric is no different. A London location makes the odd Sunday back home attainable; from Newcastle it is a chore.

 

What Keegan could not admit is how his own role has changed. A decade ago he was young, vibrant and on the up. His Newcastle team went from success to success, his football was bright and exciting, his reputation was high. Players wanted to be part of that; they wanted to play for Keegan. On Tyneside the gleam of that smile, that enthusiasm, has never dulled, but beyond the area it means little.

 

If Modric was asked to weigh Keegan against Juande Ramos, the Tottenham head coach and the winner of the Uefa Cup twice with Seville, he would go with the Spaniard every time. By comparison, Keegan is merely a local hero. In one way he is perfect for Newcastle because he carries the supporters and that is necessary in a time of transition, but in another he keeps them mired in the past because he is part of a period that is only ten years gone but is from another century.

 

Keegan has talked of bringing Thierry Henry to Newcastle and his enthusiasm for the project has not gone away, particularly because Henry has had an unhappy time at Barcelona and may wish for a change. Yet Henry may well continue to suffer from complications resulting from sciatica, which was diagnosed in 2006. Barcelona would surely wish to recoup a large chunk of the £16.1 million transfer fee they paid to Arsenal and Newcastle would expect to be asked to pay in the region of £125,000 a week in wages for a player who will turn 31 in the week the 2008-09 Premier League season starts. This is the uptown version of the policy adopted by Alan Curbishley, the West Ham United manager, who has cornered the market in costly players who were at a peak several years ago, such as Fredrik Ljungberg, Henry's former Arsenal team-mate.

 

Newcastle are walking a thin line because contained in Keegan's realistic assessment of his position was a subtext that suggested that a more damaging explosion of frustration was not far away. Right now, Keegan's target is the uneven Premier League playing field. When asked if the brochure was not as advertised - his memorable comment when briefly walking out on Sir John Hall, the former Newcastle chairman, in February 1992 after promised transfer money did not materialise - Keegan insisted that his present situation was not the same at all. “The brochure has changed,” he said. “The destinations are different now.”

 

Yet he did ponder how much money he would have to spend and whether there would be money at all. The impression he gave is that, like most managers, he feels that he needs £50 million, preferably by next Monday, and then he can have a proper crack at the job.

 

The unpleasant reality is that £50 million, which appears to be the standard fee for having a go these days, will not touch it at Newcastle, not even come close. Manchester City spent £50 million last year, so did West Ham, and where has it got them? Mid-table, much the same as Newcastle. Liverpool may need £50 million to stay in touch with Manchester United and Chelsea and this was a team who were one match away from a third Champions League final in four seasons. Arsenal may need £50 million to maintain a challenge if they lose Alexander Hleb as well as Mathieu Flamini this summer. It cost Sunderland roughly £40 million to stay up. And even if Newcastle spend £50 million, what then? There is talk that Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, will find the same sum soon for one player, Kaká, of AC Milan and Brazil.

 

So to what level do Newcastle then go? One hundred million? Two hundred million? For a club in their position to compete properly, think of a number, then double it, treble it, cube it, who knows? Abramovich has Andriy Shevchenko, a £30 million striker, on the bench, as Keegan observed. Yet, having admitted that it is impossible to compete in such an environment, in the next breath Keegan talks of needing money. No wonder Ashley is unwilling to commit too heavily. Would you?

 

Ashley bought the club for £134 million and wiped out debt in the region of £100 million. He is in for close to £250 million and having got over the “man of the people in a replica shirt” stage has told his lieutenants that he wishes the club to be run as a business. The financial stretch of owning Newcastle has disturbed him. He bought the club in a hurry and much of the due diligence process went uncompleted, so certain aspects of football finance have surprised him, not least the fact that transfer money is due in instalments, meaning that he has been presented with outstanding bills for several players that he thought the previous regime had bought outright.

 

More than 80 per cent of Newcastle's turnover is taken up by wages, when a reasonable model states that above 60 per cent makes a business precarious. This is a concern, too. Say Ashley did find the money for Henry. His wages alone would account for a further £1 million every two months, and this for a 31-year-old with sciatica. Shirts would fly off the shelves in the club shop, but not in sufficient numbers elsewhere. Newcastle have not had the success to be a leading commercial player beyond the locality; the club are big in Newcastle. Henry's tab would land directly at Ashley's door.

 

Not long ago Keegan remarked that every owner was looking for a manager such as Arsène Wenger. Maybe he knew the way Ashley wanted to take Newcastle forward, which is through Dennis Wise, his general manager, introducing the best young players to the academy. The problem is that this is everyone's Holy Grail. Each youth tournament is besieged by development officers, directors of football and executive scouts, all fighting to identify and sign the next Cesc Fàbregas on the cheap.

 

Wenger has spoilt it for everyone by keeping Arsenal in contention while spending £18 million since 2004 because now all owners think that their clubs can be run on those lines. Yet it took decades for Wenger to build the necessary network of global scouts and contacts and, even then, the club have not won a trophy in three years, however many points have been scored for artistic impression. Say Wise focuses all his energy on identifying the best 15-year-olds across Europe and luring them to Newcastle. Keegan's contract expires in 2011. What does he do in the meantime? Act as a cheerleader for the supporters when he knows that his words are hollow?

 

This is a huge dilemma for a club of ambition, whether limited or acute. Newcastle cannot afford to be foolish in the transfer market this summer and they cannot afford not to be, either. No wonder there remains fog on the Tyne.

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/martin_samuel/article3882824.ece

[Cajun]

Woodgate turned down the old board for Middlesborough.

 

I am absolutely certain i am not the only member of this forum or even in the minority who thought Owen would ever sign a new contract here. Yes he signed for the old board but he didn't really have much choice if we are being completely honest.

 

he wanted the opportunity to play for his hometown team

 

Owen had every choice, what are you talking about, what a load of bollocks. How many players have NUFC signed from Real Madrid ffs  mackems.gif

 

When we had a shite board, we lost our best players to bloody middlesboro..........

 

 

Ok NE5.

 

Woodgate wanted away from the North East, Tottenham are looking a better bet than us at the moment.

 

What choices did Owen have? The only other English team in for him (Liverpool) offered half of what we did.

 

We lost out on Huth and Woodgate to the smogs under Shepherd and co, I suppose Huth was a Middlesborough fan as a boy aswell?