Newcastle United – News Roundup – 19 August 2009.
Posted on August 19th, 2009 | 10 Comments |
First we hear from newspapers like The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Journal that Ashley arrived at the training ground in his gunship to join Llambias and Moat in takeover talks. Then The Chronicle comes along and says Ashley isn’t there for takeover talks at all but is merely dealing with some ‘routine paperwork’. The Chronicle’s ‘United source’ said:
“It is nothing to get excited about, it was a routine visit, Mike was here to sign some paperwork relating to Damien Duff’s transfer and the launch of the third kit.
“It is not the first time he has been at the training ground recently, and it won’t be the last.”
And Chris Hughton said of the visit:
“He came in, wished everyone the best for the Sheffield Wednesday game, and just wanted to tell people he wouldn’t be at the match.”
So make of that what you will. I am however going to speculate. I think the reports about the takeover being sorted out by the end of this week are probably true. I would imagine that Ashley, if he stays, or any new owner would want at least a week to deal on the transfer market and I think if Ashley feels the bids are going nowhere by the end of this week he’ll pull the plug on the sale. So I’m thinking we’ll hear one way or the other by Monday at the latest.
As to reports about Moat getting the thumbs-up from Barclays bank, I really don’t know. I don’t even know for certain if Moat is serious bidder – all we have are press reports with sparse quotes from alleged ‘sources’. Instinctively I think he is a serious bidder and the most likely person to be new owner, although I admit my instincts are shaped only by what I read in the press, which is all I have to go on.
The article in The Chronicle also mentions that Graham Roberts is launching a takeover bid on behalf of a little-known supporters group called ‘Fans 410’. Roberts said:
“We want fans to get involved and we are looking forward to meeting each other.
“We want to make it a debt free club, I can’t go into real detail at the moment, it’s ongoing.
“We have tried Seymour Pierce and Mr Harris would not even come on the phone.
“One of the directors of the company I am helping has Derek Llambias’ number and he will contact him.”
I think there’s more chance of me becoming a lesbian than this particular bid succeeding.
The Shields Gazette reports that Liverpool and Villa have joined Everton in a bid to land Steven Taylor. Apparently Taylor is now rated at around the £10m mark but the article suggests that he wants to remain loyal to Newcastle, particularly if Alan Shearer is appointed as manager, and Hughton has denied that Taylor is leaving anyway.
Going on from that, Chris Hughton told Sky Sports that there are contingency plans to buy or loan players if the transfer window goes down to the wire. Hughton said:
“It would be fair to say that we have spoken very much about the possibility of what could happen over this couple of weeks.
“As to doing anything positive in the way of bringing players in, nothing has happened yet.
“But I am quite sure that whenever the right time is to make a judgement call, that will be done.
“You certainly have to make plans that, if you are to lose one or two players, there have to be replacements.
“Yes, there have been talks, but any names will be kept very much in-house.”
Maybe some of those contingency plans include Peter Lovenkrands because The Chronicle is reporting that he has been offered a chance to come back to Newcastle, although he is said to be undecided whether to accept at the moment. And of course there are the rumours about Sol Campbell’s interest in joining the club.
Tonight we play Sheffield Wednesday and a win can take us to the same points as Cardiff, who top the division. If we win by a 4 goal margin we will in fact go top. Apparently Danny Guthrie and Danny Simpson are in the squad and according to the official site Joey Barton may yet be recovered enough from his foot injury to play.
I’m guessing, though, that Barton might not be risked and Guthrie will replace him. Beyond that, I can’t imagine Chris Hughton will want to change the side that won 3-0 on the weekend too much.
Let’s get 3 points lads!
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.
Please make it stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!