Newcastle United – News Roundup – 10 July 2009.

Posted on July 10th, 2009 | 17 Comments |

Beckford - will we get him?
Beckford - will we get him?
Good morning. We begin today with a story from The Guardian about how Shearer’s tearing his hair out about the lack of activity at Newcastle United. The Guardian only quotes ‘a source’ who supposedly witnessed Shearer’s follicular assaults but I can believe it anyway because us fans feel the same way.

The same story claims a group of Austrians shown round the ground recently are from Bwim, an online gaming company, but they suggest that these might just be potential sponsers to replace Northern Rock rather than potential buyers of the club.

The Chronicle seems more convinced that Bwim wish to buy the club. Although a Bwim official told them that

“As a rule we do not comment on rumour or speculation“, 

The Chronicle have of course found a ‘source close to the company’ who said:

“It’s no surprise that Manfred or Norbert have been linked with this.

“If they were spotted in Newcastle it’s not a big deal, because they could be there one day and on the other side of the world the next.

“Their links to global sport are there for all to see.”

Manfred and Norbert are not, as I first thought, characters from Sesame Street but Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger who are the head honchos at Bwim. The source’s quote is far from an admission of involvement if you ask me and, anyway, all bidders have been confidential until now, so I’m inclined to think Bwim are not bidders.

The Chronicle also comments on Joey Barton’s probable selection for the team that will play Shamrock Rovers tomorrow, which will presumably have Shearer tearing any remaining hair out.

The Journal goes with a story about how we’re likely to miss out on Jermaine Beckford if we don’t get our act together soon. Beckford’s agent described Newcastle as a ‘seriously attractive option‘ for his client but warns that, whilst we’re currently still in the running, too much delay could lose us the player. Beckford’s agent said:

“The longer it goes on the less chance they have of getting Jermaine, but it’s not for me to say what is going on at Newcastle. But it is certainly true that Newcastle are still a seriously attractive option for Jermaine.

“They are a big club, with a fantastic tradition and history and any player would love to play at St James’s Park. I’m sure he would talk to whoever takes over at Newcastle when it is sorted out.”

It sounds to me like he’s really trying to hold out for Newcastle and I hope we come through in time for him. The video’s a bit scratchy but here’s what we might be missing out on if this take-over stuff loses us Beckford.

The BBC suggests that Shearer was one of the people who had his phone tapped by The News Of The World and may be amongst the ‘public figures’ who intend to sue about it. It seems there are no depths to which a newspaper won’t sink when it comes to getting a story.

Finally, The Chronicle has an article from Bobby Moncur that pretty much sums up the lack of communication from the club we’ve suffered under the Ashley regime.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

17 Responses

  1. The lack of posting on here is probably as much to do with a slump in enthusiasm as it is to do with other commitments?

    Probably sums up what the majority are feeling.

    Beckford looks like a great shout but whether we’ll get our act together in time is debatable.
    Hard to believe the circumstances, given our first pre-season game is tomorrow! 8O

  3. Am I the only person who thinks of John Craven when they see this and the last entry?

    It’s a difficult time for a blog to take off we have just come the the end of the season and all the guff that went with it. People are going on their hollybobs to try and forget about NUFC. Say what you want about the crap we’ve been through, it at least gave the various fan sites something to talk about because our performances on the pitch certainly didn’t.

  6. it looks as though the famous “insider” has been reevealed to be some 1 who hacks in to peoples phones

    i wonder if thats where david craig gets his knowledge from ?

    it just goes to how the media will stop at nothing to get their stories if they cant cheat their way in to finding a story they make 1 up ie any 1 remember when we were supposedly being taken over by the toon

  8. beyethegreat says:
    July 10, 2009 at 10:33 am

    “it looks as though the famous “insider” has been reevealed to be some 1 who hacks in to peoples phones

    i wonder if thats where david craig gets his knowledge from ?”

    Beye,

    That would suggest that the information they’re getting would be accurate, as it would be from a real source. However, they only ever come out with absolute guff that is completely inaccurate!

  10. I said earlier that it would be interesting to know if Hughton’s implications are correct or whether it’s a rudimentary script everyone has been handed as a belatedly vague way to rectify their PR shambles.

  11. To be honest BBM, given the history of communication from the present regime, I can’t imagine they’d actually tell him anything at all, although he may hear things through the grapevine I guess.

  12. gd point worky though d craig gets it right most times

    apparently it was shearer and fergie that had been tapped up the notw obv found nothing

  13. Mea Culpa BBM,

    I havent posted on here for a while . Just watching and waiting.Its been like watching paint dry though !!

    Frankly just waiting for the sale to go through before getting all excited .

    However the Blog is good to read .

  14. Afternoon guys. Like waiting for a watched kettle to boil waiting for news that’s not made up by some lazy hack.
    Anyway, had a quick look at the Chronicle’s quick and dirty market research regarding the number of people who may or allegedly won’t renew their season tickets While the sample size is quite small compared to the number of fans, there is some interesting stuff in there. Will write up a quick analysis of it and will post it in the morning.

  15. There’s a report in the Guardian about McMahon and The Profitable Group bidding for Newcastle: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/10/newcastle-united-takeover-steve-mcmahon

    I’m suspicious of this. The Guardian wonders why they would break the non-disclosure agreement and go public like this and so do I.

    I wonder if they’re doing all this just for publicity. It would seem a bit extreme I know, but why would they risk the deal by breaking the non-disclosure if they’re genuinely interested in buying the club?

  16. Agree Hugh. I doesn’t make sense. It has seemed all along that they’ve been a bunch of publicity seekers, but then again you never know. However, why break the non-disclosure agreement by commenting at this stage? Seems very fishy

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