I wonder what tomorrow will bring?Due to my laptop contracting a rather unfortunate illness, it had been difficult to write about some of the recent events conspiring at the Sportsdirect.com@stjamespark stadium. Nevertheless, being British I shall try to prevail when no hope seems assured, put the kettle on, and soldier on with some recent thoughts I have had this past week or so…
Shy and retiring Alan Pardew has, in what I can only described as a show of pure commitment to us fans, given a long interview this past week with ‘Total Sport’ on BBC Radio Newcastle. Now it has been long overdue hearing from our leader, and many of you, I’m sure, were all relieved after listening (or reading) Alan’s take on the summer so far.
What I found interesting was how he talked about the amount of money FREE transfers cost etc. Now obviously agent fees and signing on fees are part and parcel of the modern game. That is football, that is the game today, we know it is not technically ‘free’ but what we do know is, no transfer fee was paid, so with that, it leaves us to speculate how much indeed has gone to the agents and the players. Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and Yohan Cabaye could not possibly of dented our transfer kitty that much, taking into consideration the ‘£35 million’, TV money, sponsorship deals, gate receipts, sale of Nolan, Shearer’s bar: You get the point.
Would it not just be easier to be honest? If we have no money to spend then just say it? Whatever the ‘truth’ is, Personally, I’m bored of the spins and excuses that I hear frequently from the club every week. Maybe we will spend something, maybe we won’t, but for me it is hard to envisage us spending much.
Found the England job soullessFormer Newcastle United manager, Kevin Keegan, tells Harry Redknapp to turn down the England job if he’s offered it after the 2012 Euros when Capello is allegedly quitting.
Keegan didn’t have the happiest of times as England manager and it still seems he harbours some bitterness about that period in his career. In fact, he has said that he’d urge tipped Capello successor Harry Redknapp not to bother:
“I didn’t enjoy it. Simple as that. It was not a job I applied for. I was at Fulham and took over part-time. It was probably me getting carried away on an idea.
“If Harry Redknapp phoned me up and asked me what I thought about him taking it, I’d say, ‘Don’t take it unless you want a lot of free time’. I really would.”
Keegan then goes on the bemoan the lack of English talent and how he found the national manager’s job to be a ‘soulless’ one:
“I would go to Highbury and see Aime Jacquet [then manager of France] watching about 15 players of his and I would have one. I wouldn’t mind if I could have gone to see Paris St Germain v Nantes and watched 15 English lads. But it wasn’t like that.(more…)
Although not in love with Ashley!Kevin Keegan expresses some views about Newcastle United, Andy Carroll, the Liverpool game and Mike Ashley.
Ex-Toon manager and twice Messiah Kevin Keegan has been giving Alan Pardew and Mike Ashley some grief over the weekend.
First of all, KK was critical about the ‘over-friendliness’ shown to Andy Carroll by his former team-mates on the pitch before the match, when what we should have done is slapped him with a wet haddock and poked his eye out with a sharp stick.
Pardew didn’t agree that it was a problem and intimated that any perceived over-friendliness vapourised at kick-off. Pardew said:
“I don’t see why he’s got a beef with that.
“I think there was one point where Andy carried the ball and there was four of them trying to kick him!
“If anyone thinks that is any part of the game, I’m surprised at that.” (more…)
Llambias: Foamin' ower Keegan!In the latest salvo of the war of words between Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambias, and former player and manager, Kevin Keegan, Llambias has responded to Keegan’s comments on the current regime at St James’s Park. Llambias launched a blistering attack, or, if you will, a ‘llambasting’ of the Mighty Mouse.
He was responding to comments from Keegan in which he suggested that current manager, Alan Pardew, wouldn’t see any of the £30-£35 million raised by the club from the sale of striker, Andy Carroll, to Liverpool.
Speaking in an intererview with the BBC’s “Radio Five Live”, Keegan remarked:
“I saw an interview with Alan Pardew where he said he hoped to get some of the £35m and I thought ‘Alan, you ain’t going to get any of that’.”
In the interview Keegan was referring to, Pardew said:
“The one thing I said to Mike yesterday was, ‘Look, if this boy [Carroll] is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it’, and he has assured me of that.
“For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used.”
Getting back to Keegan though, on the logic of the Carroll sale, he then added: (more…)
Look, it was her or Keegan. Sorry Kev.Ex Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan has been doubting Pardew will see much of the £35m we got from Carroll, Nolan tried to drink his way to international stardom and Nile Ranger nails a glamour model.
Wor Kev has been talking to Radio 5 and doesn’t fancy Alan Pardew’s chances of seeing much of the £35m the club got for Andy Carroll. Keegan said:
“I saw an interview with Alan Pardew where he said he hoped to get some of the £35 million and I thought ‘Alan, you ain’t going to get any of that’.”
Well, time will tell on that front. Keegan goes on to say that he’d have sold Carroll for £35m, but he was also critical of last minute sales like that as he’d have wanted to get a replacement for any player sold. Keegan said:
“I think £35 million for Andy Carroll … if I’d been manager I’d have taken it.
“But how can you spend it on the last day of the transfer window?
“My big argument was that we were selling James Milner for a lot of money – probably above the value we put on him – and I said, ‘Please don’t sell him before we get someone in’.
“The reason I didn’t want them to put that out and to hold on a little longer was so I could get a good value signing. It’s business. It’s a sensible way to do to do it.
“If you sell Milner for £11 million then they say, ‘If he’s worth £11 million, our guy must be worth £9 million’.” (more…)
