Newcastle United – News Roundup – 21 July 2009.

Posted on July 21st, 2009 | 30 Comments |

Duff wants Shearer.
Duff wants Shearer.
Damien Duff is the latest Newcastle player to complain about the drawn out takeover process and he called for Alan Shearer to be made manager while doing so. According to The Guardian he said:

“For me it definitely has to be Alan Shearer. The eight weeks I had with him I enjoyed them thoroughly. It was unfortunate we didn’t stay up but it was the most enjoyable eight weeks I’ve had [at Newcastle]. The training was great and there was proper professionalism. I think discipline was lacking over the last three years but he came in and changed things. Anyone who does come in and buy the club, he should be the main man.

“Time is not on our side. There are obviously [transfer] windows to think about. There are most likely going to be big changes but the start of the season is just three weeks away so we need him in now, not in three weeks’ time or four weeks’ time.”

Shearer certainly seems the popular choice amongst the players despite most of them saying he’s strict on discipline.

The club chose to respond to claims that only 15,000 season tickets had been sold with a press release of their own that reads as follows:

FOLLOWING weekend reports in the Press, Newcastle United would like to set the record straight with regards season ticket sales.

The Club can confirm that sales are now closing in on the 25,000 mark with uptake in the expanded family area particularly strong.

Interest is continuing to grow on a daily basis and with the new season still three weeks away we expect the number of season ticket holders to further increase.

According to Sky Sports, The Profitable Group feel that time is running out to complete the proposed takeover. Steve McMahon is quoted extensively in the article and one of the things he said is:

“We can only make the offer that we believe is right, we’ve done our homework, our due diligence, the funds are in place and we’ve done our best to try and get the club.

“We’ve made a very serious and genuine offer, we’re just hoping we hear something soon.

“We’re not looking to steal the club off Mike Ashley. We’ve offered what we believe is the value of the club. We believe the expertise we have in marketing and the football side of it, we can make this work.”

So it looks like their offer is short of the £100m Ashley wants but I wonder how short it is. I also wonder how stubborn Ashley will be in hanging on for his £100m target and if he has any motivation to do what he thinks is best for Newcastle United in all this or will simply take the highest bid (or the first to bid £100m).

McMahon goes on to say that transfer funds will be available:

“There will be money available, it depends how much we acquire the club for, we’ve put a certain amount of money aside and if we have to up the bid for Newcastle then that leaves us less money for players.

“We’re not saying we’re going to be a Manchester City because we’re not. We want to run it as a business and whatever money is available we will give to the manager if we’re successful and it’s all about if we’re successful in the bid.”

And of course he’s already stated that The Profitable Group will look to appoint Shearer as manager.

The Mirror runs pretty much the same article but suggests that The Profitable Group’s bid will collapse unless Ashley accepts it by Friday. I’m not sure on what they base that assumption – imagination probably.

In The Chronicle, Habib Beye sympathises with the fans telling us we ‘deserve better’, yet we also hear that he’s prepared to leave if the turmoil at the club isn’t sorted out soon. I can understand the players being frustrated at the current state of the club but it seems a bit pointless to keep threatening to leave when there’s a transfer embargo in place and when that embargo’s lifted the club will no longer be in turmoil (we hope).

That’s it for now.

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

30 Responses

  2. Morning Hugh and BTG
    It’s about time that the club’s PR dept did someting for their money and provided some level of communication, my god a couple of press releases in one week we’re receiving a positive deluge of information! Seriously, good to hear the club clarifying stuff and 25,000 season tickets sold sounds much more realistic, I never believed the 15,000 figure.
    I’m sick of reading the platitudes from the players if I’m honest. Yes we know they want it sorted, we know they want a manager, we know they want to know if they have a future at NUFC etc, but tough that’s life they just have to wait until it’s sorted out. Many thousands of people across the country want guarantees regarding their working future when their company is in turmoil but they are not lucky enough to have millions of pounds to fall back on if things go pear shaped. They are being paid, they should just shut up and get on with it until they hear otherwise. It’s also slightly puzzling why they all want AS as manager and yet most of them didn’t exactly put their neck on the line for him performance wise in his 8 games in charge so I’m not sure how that equates.
    Profitable group can s*d off as far as I’m concerned. They sound a right flakey group and we could be out of the frying pan into the fire with them. Hopefully they will be shown up for what they are. I don’t believe they have the resources available. Let’s hope there is someone else in the wings

  3. The Profitable Group don’t sound to me like they’re prepared to pay the £100m Ashley wants. They sound like they’re underbidding by quite a way too (although I’m just guessing that by the tone of what they’ve said to the press: the ‘fair price’ stuff), so I’m guessing it’s at the £70m or so mark. I doubt Ashley would go that low. He might take £85-90m at a push but I doubt he’d go for much less.

    I’m still baffled at why the PG are so vocal about all this when other bidders seem to have respected the non-disclosure quite strictly.

  4. I agree Hugh. I think it was George Caulkin in The Times, one of the few journaists with any credibility in my book, who talked about dismissing those who were vocal as they were publicity seekers. I believe he is right and all this guff by Steve MacMahon is just him trying to add credibility to their bid. I’m not sure why someone from Seymour Pierce doesn’t slap them down a bit and tell them to shut up, as what seemed like a confidential and credible process appears to be deteriorating due to PG’s constant rantings in the press.

  5. My guess is that the PG have put an offer in but it’s a low one and they’re working on the basis that if Ashley accepts it they have a club for a pittance that they can sell on if necessary, but if he doesn’t accept it – which is likely, and I think they know that – they’ll still get a lot of publicity from it.

  7. Agree with you both. Hopefully they aren’t successful with te bid. Apart from everything Worky has dug up on them, I don’t like their lack of professionalism through this process. I know beggars can’t be choosers but as dire as the situation is with MA I would prefer to keep that with some provisos that get involved with this lot.

  8. McMahon is trying to start another fans revolt by the sound of things.

    All this crap about how he feels for the fans, how they have Shearer (and large transfer kitty) waiting in the wings ready to take over. Then he taps into the anxieties of the fans by saying that Ashley must sell to them soon for the sake of the club and the fans, and of course, the more Ashley wants, the less the transfer kitty will be etc. This is just a complete farce, it’s manipulative and insulting to our intelligence.

  9. …And Duff is highly unprofessional to talk about who the next manager should be when all this sale stuff is going on. Newcastle United don’t pay him ridiculous wages to stick his nose in the sale procedure and attempt to pressure prospective owners on their choice of manager.

  10. “McMahon is trying to start another fans revolt by the sound of things.”

    Maybe, but I’m not sure what he hopes to achieve by that. I doubt revolting fans would have any influence whatsoever on the sales process.

    I totally agree that PG’s ‘bid’ is a farce though.

  11. I wonder how many people would get all excited about this little snippet that is being reported on the BBC website?

    “The Magpies, who were recently taken over by a Middle-Eastern consortium, and Eriksson’s agent Athole Still are refusing to confirm his involvement.”

    My giddy aunt it looks like we have been taken over and Sven is going to be our manager!! or perhaps not.
    It’s actually a report on how Eriksson is in talks with Notts County with regards to becoming their director of football.
    If he is looking for a new job, how about manager to the other magpies? He’s a better bet than Shearer.

  12. Hugh de Payen says:
    July 21, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    “Maybe, but I’m not sure what he hopes to achieve by that. I doubt revolting fans would have any influence whatsoever on the sales process.”

    Neither do I, Hugh. It could only be counterproductive to their bid, if they’ve even put one in. However if someone was deliberately writing a speech to get the more impressionable Newcastle fans up a height, it would probably look alot like McMahon’s latest insincere drivel.

    Is anyone gannin’ to the Huddersfield game the neet?

  13. That V7 Color Toner For HP 4730 Multifunction Printer fella talks a lot of sense. Bit of a long nick name though.

  15. Micky Toon says:
    July 21, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    “That V7 Color Toner For HP 4730 Multifunction Printer fella talks a lot of sense. Bit of a long nick name though.”

    Someone didn’t tick the “disallow trackbacks / pingbacks” box. I’ll gan’n dee it now.

  16. I’m in two minds whether to go tonight or not.
    My game is cancelled again.

    But Huddersfield is a long way to go on your own unless I can persuade my old man.

  26. Nice one.

    Did you have to sell a kidney? How does it work and when do you get the green light?

    I guess the quality of the articles and more particularly my ‘quirky’ headlines might need to be scrutinised!!

  28. Reet, I’m off. Picking ‘wor lass’ up and then heading straight off once I’ve dropped her off.

    Speak later lads and lasses.

  29. beyethegreat says:
    July 21, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    “congratulations worky how didd you achieve this amazing feat”

    It wasn’t just me, Beye, but being a web designer does help. Lot’s more to do yet on the promotion front though, I’ve been very slack through other stuff.

    Have a nice time in Huddersfield, Bowburn!