Newcastle United – News Roundup – 11 August 2009.
Posted on August 11th, 2009 | 32 Comments |
The Guardian speculates that Moat is making his bid with backing from local nightclub owner Allan Rankin, rather than the previously speculated ‘American Backers’, and that the two have set up a new company called Tandem Bars specifically for the purposes of acquiring the club.
The vacant manager’s position gets some exposure with The Shields Gazette claiming that four managers have been short-listed by Ashley, should he keep the club. They claim those managers are David O’Leary, Gordon Strachan, Alan Curbishley and some unnamed ‘overseas manager’.
The Telegraph goes one better and claims five managers have been short-listed although it doesn’t name any others beyond the three listed by The Shields Gazette. Any advance on five? Surely one of the papers could manage six.
Harry Redknapp claims that Seb Bassong has served his two game ban because he missed the Villa match at the end of last season and the West Brom match on Saturday, even though he’d signed for Spurs before Saturday’s game. I’m not sure how that works because there’s no way he was in contention to play for us on Saturday if he was already a Spurs player. If Redknapp gets away with that one it will be a huge stroke of luck.
Chris Hughton may finally get to dip his toe in the transfer market according to The Chronicle. Apparently when Bassong was sold to Spurs there was some discussion about Newcastle taking a few of the Spurs youngsters on loan. Hughton said:
“I am realistic enough to know that if I’m still in the seat as the weeks go on, discussions will have to take place over players going and so on, but at the moment it hasn’t happened.”
According to The Mirror, Jonas Gutierrez has ‘pleaded’ with Newcastle to accept a £7m offer from Olympiakos for him. Jonas said:
“I want to leave Newcastle and go to a club which will give me the chance to fight for this place in my national team.
“I believe if I play well in the Champions League then Maradona is going to take a look at me.
“My agent told me that he received a call from Olympiakos’ people, who asked him if I wanted to play for them.
“I told my agent that I wouldn’t say no to Olympiakos if they are going to make a good offer to me.
“Of course, everything depends on Newcastle. I have four more years on my contract and Olympiakos must agree with them first of all.
“My agent told me that the upcoming week is going to be crucial. He is expecting a new contact with Olympiakos. They are a huge club. They are the Boca Juniors or the River Plate of Greece.
“For me is a big challenge to play the Champions League. I have a lot of energy in me and I want to make a fantastic season in order to be with my national team in South Africa for the World Cup.”
The Mirror is also reporting that Arsenal have stepped up their interest in Krul, who is apparently valued at around £3m. Krul is definitely one I hope we hang on to but I suspect Ashley will see £3m as a good return for a youngster with only a few first team appearances to his name.
That’s it for now.
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