All The Stuff In The Sunday EVENING Papers

[Thespence]

NEWS OF THE WORLD

 

Frank Rijkaard has been lined up to take over at Chelsea next season.

 

Luka Modric will be the shock name on the Spurs exit list this summer.

 

Florent Malouda has hinted he may quit Chelsea for Juventus. (LIKE HE HAS CHOICE)

 

Manchester United are to offer Cristiano Ronaldo a new contract that will make him the Premier League's first £200,000-a-week player.

 

Dirk Kuyt has put contract talks on hold until Rafa Benitez's future plans become clearer.

 

Newcastle have made a shock bid to sign Henrik Larsson.

 

David Moyes will attempt to sign Stephane M'Bia for a third time in the summer.

 

Sol Campbell could be on his way to Monaco at the end of the season.

 

Alan Pardew is a shock candidate to take the vacant managerial role at Brighton.

 

Manchester City have opened contract talks with Nedum Onuoha.

 

THE PEOPLE

 

Cristiano Ronaldo has been offered a new five-year deal by Manchester United worth £140,000 a week.

 

Joe Kinnear is ready to put pen to paper on a new two-year contract at Newcastle.

 

Liverpool want Brazilian striker Diogo Luis Santo and will offer £12million for the player. (BUT THEY ARE SKINT!)

 

Wigan are mulling over a new move for West Brom left-back Paul Robinson.

 

Rafa Benitez will sign his new Liverpool contract on Monday week.

 

Sunderland want Peter Reid to return to the club as director of football. :laughterisnotargumentation:

 

Nottingham Forest and Leicester both want to take Aston Villa's Isaiah Osbourne on loan.

 

Florent Malouda has urged Juventus to rescue him from his Chelsea misery.

 

Sheffield United are ready to take Crystal Palace striker James Scowcroft on loan.

 

Spurs, Fulham and Newcastle are keeping tabs on Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. 

 

Manchester City kid Curtis Obeng has been offered a trial by Celtic.

 

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce is chasing Bosnian hot shot Edin Dzeko.

 

DAILY STAR SUNDAY

 

Newcastle owner Mike Ashkey has reportedly turned down an approach by Kevin Keegan to become Toon boss for a third time.

 

Michael Ballack is hopeful Chelsea will offer him a new contract this summer.

 

Chelsea flop Florent Malouda has urged Juventus to buy him.

 

Nicky Butt feels Michael Owen could still stay at Newcastle.

 

Arsene Wenger is monitoring Hibernian utility player Souleymane Bamba.

 

Fulham have targeted Liam Ridgewell as a replacement for Brede Hangeland.

 

Everton hope to sign Jo on a permanent basis for a fee of £8million.

 

Keith Gillespie could earn a contract with Huddersfield. (Good ol Clarkie )

 

Hull are set for showdown talks with Geovanni and have scrapped plans to sign Mark Viduka.

SUNDAY MIRROR

 

Tottenham will make a new £15million move for Stewart Downing.

 

Sol Campbell is a summer target for Monaco.

 

Alan Pardew could become the new manager of Brighton.

 

Bobby Hassell is on course to quit Barnsley as a free agent this summer.

 

SUNDAY EXPRESS

 

Joe Kinnear is to be handed a new two-year contract by Newcastle. :-[

 

All the above is from Teamtalk who nicked there words from the rags.

 

 

This may be elsewhere:

 

MICHAEL OWEN will stay at Newcastle this summer — according to his closest friend at St James’s Park.

 

While many assume Owen will move on when his contract expires in June, Nicky Butt believes United’s skipper is ready to sign a new deal and remain in Toon.

 

It is the first time anyone close to Owen has hinted that his long-term future may lie on Tyneside, with Manchester City mooted as his likeliest destination.

 

However, Butt insists his optimism about keeping his long-time England team-mate at the club is not misplaced.

 

“I still believe Michael will stay to be honest,” said Butt, who has himself just signed up for another year at Newcastle.

 

“He’s obviously out of contract, so there’s virtually nothing to stop him from leaving, but it’s not like he’s going about saying: ‘I want to go here, I want to go there.

 

“He’s happy here, he’s committed to Newcastle and he might shock people. Maybe he might stay here.

 

“I just feel he’s at the club and he’s not unhappy. When players want to leave you can tell straight away.

 

“Shay (Given) got to the point where it was time for him to leave — it was right for him. That’s the good thing . . . you don’t see that with Michael.”

 

Owen’s publicly declared decision to put all talks over his future on hold until the end of the season was widely interpreted as further proof that he wanted out of United.

 

However, Butt added: “When negotiations break down, everyone fears the worst. Everyone thinks: ‘That’s it, he’s gone.’

 

“But sometimes it’s a case of putting things to one side and getting the football out the way.

 

“Hopefully that’s the case in this situation.”

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-utd/newcastle-utd-news/2009/03/01/owen-to-stay-at-nufc-this-summer-says-butt-79310-23034869/

 

 

 

Freddy hits back at Magpie claims

 

FORMER Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has branded accusations that his purchase of Michael Owen caused United’s current financial strife as “pathetic”.

 

Magpies’ managing director Derek Llambias claims the decision by Shepherd to spend sponsorship money up front on Owen in 2005 has left the club financially crippled.

 

But Shepherd last night launched an angry defence of the £17 million Owen deal, accused owner Mike Ashley of “making excuses” and insisted mistakes made by the current regime are most to blame for today’s problems at St James’s Park.

 

Llambias said in midweek: “We don’t have any commercial income at the moment because that was spent to pay for Michael Owen.

 

“It was all spent in advance — that’s the money from Northern Rock and adidas. That is crazy for any football club because we need that income.”

 

But Shepherd retorted: “They (the current board) are trying to camouflage the problems they have created and distance blame from themselves with a pathetic PR campaign.

 

“Newcastle bought England’s top striker without borrowing from the bank or being landed with any interest charges. The fact we paid up front was the factor that allowed us to win the Owen race.

 

“It was a gilt-edged deal from a financial perspective even if the injuries that have blighted Owen’s time at Newcastle meant it didn’t quite work out on the football front.

 

“The fee for a world-class star like Owen was £4m-a-year over the period of his deal, and with turnover in the £90 millions it equated to less than four per cent of turnover.

 

“I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.”

 

Shepherd added: “For Alan Shearer in 1996 the fee was £15m. We borrowed at high interest rates when turnover was much less, so it was a far costlier and riskier deal in real terms than Owen’s.

 

“I make absolutely no apologies for trying to bring the best to Newcastle. Shearer worked brilliantly, Owen didn’t. But that is how football works.

 

“I would challenge anyone to compare the cash I backed managers with to the sort of break-even transfer policy that now appears to be in place.

 

“Ashley needs to stop making excuses and blaming everyone but himself. He should remember his own words to his unhappy Sports Direct investors about ‘acting like cry babies!’ Ashley and co remained in the firing line as Shepherd continued: “He sacked Sam Allardyce and that cost them £4.6m.

 

“They then failed to back Kevin Keegan and that has brought a legal claim for a reported £8m.

 

“They have lost the fans, which has sent gates down to below 48,000 and cost revenue. They have sold nearly £50m of talent they inherited and lost top players such as Shay Given, James Milner and Scott Parker.

 

“This comes at a time when the net spend on players is virtually invisible. The financial performance of the club is as worrying as what is happening on the field.

 

“And while my salary was criticised, it never matched the £1.35m it cost to bring Chris Mort in as chairman.

 

“Ashley’s Sports Direct company advertising is plastered all over the stadium and the club publications but the accounts show that just £42,250 was paid for it to Newcastle.

 

“And what sort of business sells their best player, Shay Given, to the world’s so-called richest club, Manchester City, and has to wait until the summer to be paid?

 

“When blame is being dished out for the present predicament of the club, I don’t think too many people will be fooled by the excuses coming from the people who have been in charge for the last two seasons.”

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-utd/newcastle-utd-news/2009/03/01/freddy-hits-back-at-magpie-claims-79310-23034870/2/

Wise set to leave United in summer

 

NEWCASTLE hate figure Dennis Wise is set to leave the club this summer.

 

The Sunday Sun understands Wise — whose influence as United’s director of football was widely blamed for Kevin Keegan quitting the club — is expecting to be offered a new post elsewhere during the close-season.

 

And although owner Mike Ashley’s support for Wise has been unwavering in the wake of Keegan’s departure, he will not block his exit.

 

Wise’s role at Newcastle was expected to be put under the spotlight if Keegan’s contractual dispute with the club resulted in a Premier League arbitration panel hearing.

 

But United, as exclusively revealed by the Sunday Sun a fortnight ago, are ready to head off that prospect by agreeing a settlement with Keegan before any face to face showdown.

 

However, with Wise possibly on his way, sources insist Newcastle would look to keep their current management structure intact by appointing a direct replacement for him.

 

And that raises the possibility of current manager Joe Kinnear being invited to move “upstairs” at St James’s Park if he decides against returning to front-line management after heart bypass surgery.

 

Meanwhile, Ashley’s latest attempt to woo back fans disgruntled by a traumatic season is to reduce corporate box prices at St James’s to 2003 levels.

 

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-utd/newcastle-utd-news/2009/03/01/wise-set-to-leave-united-in-summer-79310-23034871/

[Mistle17]

This Kinnear story seems to have legs. 

[Guest firetotheworks]

I was talking to this Forest fan last night who reckons Keegan will be back eventually because he cant stay away. Made me laugh, not as much as that report about him asking Ashley to come back though.

[Dr Venkman]

I was talking to this Forest fan last night who reckons Keegan will be back eventually because he cant stay away. Made me laugh, not as much as that report about him asking Ashley to come back though.

 

if wise is going at the end of the season and there wasnt another dof coming in would it really be that surprising that he'd come back to keep us up, again? i'm not surprised by anything anymore tbh.

[Guest firetotheworks]

I was talking to this Forest fan last night who reckons Keegan will be back eventually because he cant stay away. Made me laugh, not as much as that report about him asking Ashley to come back though.

 

if wise is going at the end of the season and there wasnt another dof coming in would it really be that surprising that he'd come back to keep us up, again? i'm not surprised by anything anymore tbh.

 

That was going to be my answer to your question. Whats this about Wise going at the end of the season? Just a rumour?

[Dr Venkman]

I was talking to this Forest fan last night who reckons Keegan will be back eventually because he cant stay away. Made me laugh, not as much as that report about him asking Ashley to come back though.

 

if wise is going at the end of the season and there wasnt another dof coming in would it really be that surprising that he'd come back to keep us up, again? i'm not surprised by anything anymore tbh.

 

That was going to be my answer to your question. Whats this about Wise going at the end of the season? Just a rumour?

 

just read it in the OP mate, speculating on rubbish more than likely, but i'm bored

[Syrette]

If there is any truth in that Ronaldo rumour then that is just ridiculous.