Potty-mouthed tirade against past managersNewcastle United Managing Director Derek Llambias serves up an expletive-ridden speech against Keegan, Shearer, Hughton and Carroll.
Amidst all the furore of stadium renaming, you’d think one of the things our Managing Director would try to do is talk around the fans and sweeten them up to the whole fiasco.
Well that might be what a professional would do but Delboy’s response, it seems, is to get sloshed and launch a foul-mouthed tirade against the various managers he’s appointed and dismissed in the past. Unfortunately for Delboy, he did so in front of Toon fans, some of whom taped it.
On Keegan he said:
“Kevin Keegan can’t take pressure. His f****** head was all over the place. Mike Ashley was selling to the Arabs and they wanted Kevin Keegan. The Arabs wanted him, the fans wanted him — perfect!” (more…)
How much will he be missed?Is the Africa Cup of Nations going to cause serious problems for Newcastle United, particularly in relation to Demba Ba?
The Africa Cup of Nations (ACoN) has its first group game on the 21st January and the final is on 12th February, which means that players will be away from their respective clubs for potentially 3 weeks of tournament time plus preparation/recovery time.
For Newcastle, that means the loss of two of this season’s top performers: Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote. Ba’s Senegal is in Group A along with Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Zambia whilst Tiote’s Ivory Coast is in Group B along with Sudan, Burkina Faso and Angola.
Gossip abounds about Pardew’s desire to recruit a new striker, although if Modibo Maiga is that striker then we’re no better off during the ACoN because Mali is also in the tournament.
I would not imagine that the club will be recruiting a striker simply for a 3-week tournament anyway, so presumably Pardew intends to cover for the ACoN with the players he has already got. That could mean a start for Shola (if he’s fit) or for Benny, either of who could play up front with Leon Best.
The worry of course is how we’d cope without the player who has scored half of our 16 league goals this season. Ba had this to say about his absence: (more…)
Praying he gets the England job?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew rules himself out for the England manager’s job, if indeed he was ever a serious contender anyway.
Pardew’s 10 game undefeated start to the season has had him ‘in the frame’ – at least according to the press – as a potential replacement for Fabio Capello as England manager after next summer’s European Championship, but the man himself isn’t interested in the job, at least for now.
Pardew Said:
“It’s nice to hear your name mentioned with things like that, but in terms of the England job, it’s not for me at this time. I’m just not interested in it. I don’t think I have the experience to do that job.
“There’s someone in hospital at the moment (Redknapp) who could definitely do the job though. I think he’s at the right age and he’s had the right experience in his career.
“When it comes to the England job, I think the most important thing about the position is that the general public need to buy in to whoever the manager is. I think they would willingly buy in to Harry Redknapp, and I think that’s very important. He would definitely be my choice.” (more…)
One game at a timeNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew keeps ambitions in check ahead of our game against Everton on the weekend.
What exactly is a ‘potential banana skin’? I ask because my local shopkeeper and I were having our daily discussion about life, the universe and everything and he left me with the comment “Everton are a potential banana skin”. Which got me to wondering if a ‘potential banana skin’ is actually just a banana.
Anyway, we’re playing this banana on the weekend and I’m pleased to see that Alan Pardew is keeping a sharp perspective on things. Pardew said:
“We have had a great start and have shown a lot of sides to us as a team. But we look no further than that.
“We are coming up against a very good established Premier League side in Everton, with a great manager and good players, and you have to respect every team in this division. And that is what we will do for the next game.(more…)
Time to get behind Ashley, says ShepherdFormer Newcastle United owner Freddie Shepherd has surprisingly good things to say about the man who took over from him.
Freddie Shepherd celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday and in his after-dinner speech he actually heaped a load of praise on Mike Ashley which, given some of the criticism Shepherd has slung Ashley’s way in the past, is a bit of a surprise.
Shepherd said:
“I am still a massive Newcastle fan. True to say Mike and I have not always seen eye to eye but you’ve got to give him some of the credit for what is happening this season.
“I think it’s time for the fans to get fully behind him and give him a chance. After all, no one really owns Newcastle because it’s simply a football institution.
“Maybe he is right in his policy and I was wrong. Maybe we gave our managers too much money to spend in the transfer market. I reckon we spent around £300m on players like Alan Shearer, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Tino Asprilla and Michael Owen.(more…)
